Karmic thinking - the idea that everything that happens to people is a result of their own actions is endemic in India. It's latent Hinduism - cultural values that seep into seemingly secular spaces. Got robbed on a bus? Should have been careful with your luggage. Got molested?

What were you wearing? Don't have a job? You're clearly not looking hard enough. The list goes on. Such Karmic thinking keeps us from seeing systems of oppression and discrimination which are powerful influences that dwarf individual efforts.

This is why patriarchy won't get talked about. Bad policy frameworks won't get talked about. Oppressive systems that enable crime won't get talked about. All we will talk about is the individual and their perceived lack of effort to be safe and prosperous. This brings us to the modern "motivational" speakers.

They aren't necessarily religious. But they spread Karmic thinking too. Their audience, mostly young men, get told that their efforts are all that matters. That if they work hard, nothing can keep them from prosperity. Naturally therefore, the only conclusion a young man will reach after failing, is that it was he who didn't work hard enough, hustle enough, motivate himself enough, didn't buy enough courses from YouTube motivational gurus to "optimise" his life.

Karma is more than a philosophy. It's a Brahminical idea designed to prevent people from seeing systems of oppression. Because if those who suffer are suffering due to their own actions, those who aren't suffering are clearly better, superior, and more capable. From this, we get strength worship - idolisation of the privileged.

Karmic thinkers will therefore always side with the bully and blame the victim. We're seeing this in saffron support for Putin when they say that Indian students stuck in Ukraine are responsible for their suffering. Whenever they come across the powerful hurting the powerless, they'll side with the powerful.